I say good he is there to stir things up and make some fun. Its only bike riding.
Windham World Cup Finals - Live Thread
- Thread starter Ridemonkey.com
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Sheep chasing at an early age for training?
Good to hear the crowds were bigger than what you could see on freecaster. It really did look pretty sparse.
I think that's a bit harsh... does anyone remember Cam Cole laying out a fat whip on the big jump at the end of the Fort William course just as he was taking 2nd? The guy is fast on a bike and he's a showman too that loves amping up the crowd. I still like seeing him ride and I'm glad that he's back in the race circuit and healthy.
meh. it all adds to the diversity / fun / spectacle of the event. if you can qualify, you deserve to be there, regardless of your motivation. on that note, it was cool to see vanderham out there as well; not a bad run.
Dude, I was joking. I live like an hour from Windham.There was plenty of lodging options, stores, gas, eateries, etc. What exactly were you looking for? Strip clubs and mini golf??
Besides, WC riders don't eat at drive thrus!As for the rest of us, we don't matter at a WC. As you may have noticed, its all about UCI.
Unfortunate for masses, but just the way it is.
You still had fun right??
friday and saturday's crowd was a bit boring but come Sunday, America didnt let me down!
pics loading now...
pics loading now...
Yeah, he is faster than 75-80% of the field and always entertaining, just not a threat to the podium under any circimstance...of course if it happens, I will gladly eat my words.
Gracia is a great talent, with a penchant for showmanship. I think he could still be competitive with a certain amount of focus on the actual events.Oh, and now that you've all seen Cedric on a ripper of a run....can you imagine how high up he'd have finished if he stayed on the bike? Granted...that trick was insane!!!!
My impression is that he yearns for the days where the top riders were competitive yet fun-loving. The top echelon of the sport is serious to a degree that it's never been before, and for good reason. It just doesn't suit Gracia's demeanor.
tl;dr - Gracia is not-so-subtly trolling WC downhill racing.
Sparse...?......Woman's race there were 2 people on course. One was the green shirt guy on the Hay Wagon eating a cheeseburger.
Was relieved to see crowds show up for the Men's race though.
Guess people were in the parking lot getting rev'd up.
Hah ha! I went to my first Carolina Panthers game last year. There was some professional tailgating going on.
Was amazed at the people who never made it to their seats, but were firmly commited to their BBQ & brew.
Would the grass lower part still have rolled fast in the rain or been a pedal fest?
Or a Kiwi named Blenkinsop . . . but they all sound the same right?
Pro mtb racers are promotional tools. Some using racing results to promote their brands, Gracia doesn't. And guess what, he still kicks ass.
Dood, it's DH racing, not ultra enduro motocross or F1 racing, get over it.
It's all relative. Remember, Blenky is using the refined and cultured experience of NZ downhill racing in gauging the level of "hickness" at Windham.
(no offense meant to kiwis; I'm assuming that NZ has its own version of 'hick')
Sort of a bad example. The pros and former pros commentating were screaming "Why is he costing himself time?" If he didn't whip, he might have snagged 1st and gotten paid a big contract. Makes no difference to a fan's life, but it might have cost him a hefty salary since nobody remembers second place.
If ifs and buts were butts and nuts, we'd all be having an orgy.
Same colony, different century.
What you are trying to say is if you ain't first you're last? As Ricky Bobby finds out from his dad its not true. I remember his whip but now who won
exaxtly, from the footage shown on freecaster, it looked like a event with nearly no visitors at all. especially the finish area looked like half the people there are filmer or photographers. now compare this to la bresse last year where the finish area was packed with people.Trumpore, Fraser....easy on the fella. On Freecaster, which is all we had to go on, the crowd seemed smaller and quieter than a Euro World Cup. Maybe if there had been bleachers in the finish area? Or maybe the massive amount of ski slope to finish on scattered everybody out.
Loved watching it on Freecaster. It was the first time it literally streamed flawless for me.
Where Peat crashed...Gracia made reference that it was the scariest part of the whole course.
Oh, and now that you've all seen Cedric on a ripper of a run....can you imagine how high up he'd have finished if he stayed on the bike? Granted...that trick was insane!!!!
The finish area is the least exciting area to watch the race unless you win or has a close relationship with the rider. Compared to the road gap where there was a DJ, tons of action, and an speak tell us who was coming down next. Hence US fans are just a little smarter and know where to hang out.
still seeing no big crowd after watching the dirt tv finals vid. did they all hide when a video camera showed up?
The course itself was rather long. There were a LOT of people up on the mountain hiking to watch.
We were all naked they did not dare to film.
I loved the bar set up at the road gap jump! That part was packed.
Believe it or not, most of the spectators were standing very near the cameras. As you can imagine a good spot for a television camera is often a good spot for a human as well.
Why the he*l do you care anyway?
brits LOVE to bag on the US, it's like their national pastime, just check pinkbike
even though I think sethimus is gur-man.I can assure you Cam's whips in Fort Bill are only adding to this 2011 cash wad!Sort of a bad example. The pros and former pros commentating were screaming "Why is he costing himself time?" If he didn't whip, he might have snagged 1st and gotten paid a big contract. Makes no difference to a fan's life, but it might have cost him a hefty salary since nobody remembers second place.
If ifs and buts were butts and nuts, we'd all be having an orgy.
The crowd was a respectable size. Freecaster didn't capture the length of this track. As JimMac mentioned, the road gap was a big spot, also Alligator Rock was mobbed (DH point 2,3,4) top to bottom for Pro women and early in Pro Men, then people worked their way down. I think most people wanted to see the whole course. When Steve Peat came thru section 2/3/4 there was less than 10 people left at the top. There was never cameras in the Alligator rock section which was a very technical section IMO but hard to hike and not as exciting because lower speeds.
If you watched the Freecaster DH replay, CG is commentating on his run and mentions letting go of the bar over the road gap to point at the Boom Box Boys....here they are in a photo I found. Most of you East Coast guys know them.
If you watched the Freecaster DH replay, CG is commentating on his run and mentions letting go of the bar over the road gap to point at the Boom Box Boys....here they are in a photo I found. Most of you East Coast guys know them.
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it's our god given right as the populating, ex-colonising, annoying little cousinbrits LOVE to bag on the US, it's like their national pastime, just check pinkbike
p.s. ft.bill was better
Or to make the track more accesible for spectators. It was rugged hiking for most to get in close to the course. All the cut scraps were just thrown to the side outside the security zone where fans were expected to watch from. I saw people tripping and falling all day. Hopefully next year they consider that. Easier hiking=more fans on course.
Are you sure - I managed fine in flip flops and a back pack full of beer. Time to man up
agreed.... if only they could make a 30 second dead flat fire road with table tops before the finish section. then it would be as exciting as the end of fort william, and equally as "fun" for the racers
Not sure why you guys compare every single track to ft. bill as if that is the gold standard. Hate to burst your bubble but it is far from the standard by which any other track should be measured. Yes it is unique and has become a classic, but leave it at that. La Bresse was about as far from ft. bill in track style and it was voted best event in 09, so surely there are other tracks that are good besides your home town pride, no ?seriously, you guys are grasping at straws trying to say there were no spectators or trying to explain why this was the case. none of you were even there?
Fraser tried to set the record straight but you fail to listen despite the fact that he has been to every WC race for the last 4 years. I have been to the last 4 WC finals (maribor, schladming x2, and windham) and this crowd was on par with any of those events.
not every track has a spectator arena like ft. bill. Take MSA for example the crowds are spread all over that place, and in Maribor (which had larger spectator attendance in 08 than ft. bill worlds) everyone is in the woods on the track.... it is just that they are not sat in bleachers at the bottom like your favorite track in scotland.
schladming you see a lot of people at the bottom simply because the last pitch of trail is so steep to walk up, but the flip side of that is that you do not have people cheering the whole way down.
so anyway... great race, too bad so many people (mostly Brits for some reason on every message board) are trying to find any and every reason to justify it as being poor.
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Do tell?
Oh, and Trump...I'm not disputing the attendance. Just giving you what it "looked" like. I believe you.
at least we put jumps on our flat pedalagreed.... if only they could make a 30 second dead flat fire road with table tops before the finish section. then it would be as exciting as the end of fort william, and equally as "fun" for the racers
but windham didn't have a flat pedalat least we put jumps on our flat pedal
so I guess there was no need
maybe they'll learn for next time then - flat + jumps > boring field + huck to flatbut windham didn't have a flat pedal
maybe they'll learn for next time then - flat + jumps > boring field + huck to flat
you really have no clue do you ?
thanks for trolling..... go bicker on pinkbike with other fools
On a different note, I have to say that I'm really impressed with Lewis Buchanan. The kid hasn't been hyped up like some of the other juniors in recent years but has some real raw talent and turned in some great results this season. Someone as MS must have seen this to take him on and they have been repaid for that. I think the kid has a good future. He even seems to be a nice kid from the interviews that I've seen.
In the Vital slideshow, Gee was saying the MSA trackwalk was tomorrow (i.e. today) and practice starts tomorrow.... holy geez, that's quick. not much time for them to recover. Is there a Worldz thread yet?!?
Any pics of Spagnola's boost/boosh?
Same here. Also Brook MacDonald in his first year out of the junior ranks has had an impressive season. Danny Hart too!
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